Friday 25 December 2009

Xmas Day - Side effects really kicking in

The side effects of the treatment were on full display today, dad had cripling stomach cramps all day :( He had a blood test yesterday and was told he needed to be given extra platelets. After a 7 hour wait at the hospital they finally arrived from another hospital. He has been called back in for 2 further top ups before the end of the year before he starts back on the Velcade in January.

Today was the worst I have seen him look in quite a while, he was looking quite frail and weak, the loss of appetite doesn't help either , but he is trying to eat little bits throughout the day which is something I guess. Feeling quite helpless today....wish I could do something....anything....just to make it go away, even if it was just for a little while. His grand-daughter, my little girl makes him smile, even though she is going through the terrible twos at the moment, he absolutely adores her ! I think i'll take her over in the morning.

Tuesday 22 December 2009

Velcade Treatment

After only 3 treatments, we have noticed a remarkable difference in my dads condition. For the past 2 months he had developed and unusual bone growth in his collar bone, it was almost portruding and for so long we thought perhaps he may have been being paranoid until we saw it poking out under his shirt. I wasn't impressed when we told the consultant and her response was "ooh i dont know what that is, that is a bit strange" I did a google search and found out that the spinal cord, thigh bone and collar bone are all rich in bone marrow, hence the myeloma was the cause of the swelling on my dads collar bone. After the velcade treatment the swelling has gone down so much it is hardly visible ! While it it is amazing that my dad is responding so well to the drug, its really scary how quickly things have progressed this time around, and if the doctors hadnt moved so quickly this time around he would have deteriated so quickly.

Dad is having platelets twice prior to resuming treatment in the new year. He is feeling quite nauseas and is starting to lose his apetite again, but he finds by snacking throughout the day as opposed to having large meals makes a real difference. Im soo proud of him and I am amazed at his strength and determination every day...I just wish he wasnt so stubborn all the time. He refuses to let us come with him to all of his appointments as he says its all routine and that he normally sleeps during treatments. He then tells us everything is fine afterwards and that he is back off to work. I understand that he wants to keep things as normal as possible for himself, and as a father he wants to protect us from seeing his pain, but he has always been there to look after us and even now he is exactly the same. Now its my/our turn, whether he likes it or not were going to be there! through it all.

Sunday 20 December 2009

Relapse

Although we knew this was an inevitable part of this particular disease it still came as some what of a surprise. We got the news from a routine blood test in November 2009. We were all really surprised as we all thought he had been doing so well. The protien in his urine had increased considerably and was now affecting his kidneys.He was sent to have immediate X-rays and more blood test.

The team of consultants were meeting the following day, and promptly the day after he was called in for treatment. We disussed velcade at the previous appointment. Having already read up on this I was really pleased that everything has been moving so quickly. He has now had 3 treatments already and so far so good. He has had a little nausea and getting a few cramps in his hands and feet. He has one more treatment tommorow before Xmas and were meeting with the consultants tommorow to discuss his progress too.

Stem Cell Transplant

Dad had his stem cell transplant March 2008. It was a success, their was no trace of myeloma in his bloods for around 18 months. Although he was still in a lot of pain everyday and was taking morphine to control the back pain.n. He is a stubborn old man and still went to work full time, but he says this helps him and I suppose he is right, cancer does not stop you from living!

Leading up to this he had various procedures to repair some of the damage caused to his collapsed verterbra in his spine.

Thursday 17 December 2009

The horrible bone marrow test!

"As Multiple myeloma is a disorder in which plasma cells are produced in an uncontrolled and invasive (malignant) fashion. Plasma cells develop from lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. They are found primarily in the bone marrow and lymph nodes"


The doctors needed to do the bone marrow test to see how far the disease had progressed. It involved a large needle being placed into his hip to extract the cells. Apparently my dad had a very hard hip bone, which meant the nurse really struggled to get the needle in, after 7 attempts she called a doctor to help her out!

My dad was in agony for MONTHS after and still feels the pain- now im not saying it was directy thr result of this test but it could not have helped the matter. After the anaesthics wore off he couldnt sit, lie down or anything.

For the first time in my life, i saw my dad the strong, keen sportsman, looking so helpless...and every part of my ached. I have 2 sisters, we all handle things differently i guess. One of my sisters carried on with her everyday life like nothing had happend which annoyed me GREATLY! and the other, well it was difficult to say... I needed to know everything, read everything...but also in the back of my mind I was also thinking about what would happen if he didnt pull through , how would I look after my mum and the house and everything that my dad looks after. I dony think you every really think about life without your parents until something like this happens.

Dads Diagnosis

My dad was diagnosed with stage 3 Multiple Myeloma in August 2007 after a shoulder injury that failed to heal after a year. His GP continued to give him morphine shots to help control the pain and after the umpeenth appointment decided to refer him for an MRI scan. My husband was with my dad when he was told that a number of tumours could be seen...full stop! That was it! They were sent home..

My husband broke the news to my mum and called me and my sisters to tell us the news. I was just over 6 months pregnant at the time....I couldnt breathe! Did this mean my father was going to die..

He was called in 1 week later when to speak with a consultant, and after various tests he was diagnosed with MM. The consultant was fantastic, explaining all aspects of the disease in great detail but what he gave us was hope that this was not the end, but the beggining of a very difficult journey.